This past weekend, we got a taste of life with the empty nest. The youngest went with the Marching Band to Very Large Amusement Park two states over. They left after school Friday and returned before 5 (a.m.) Sunday morning. Now, this is not the first time we have had this preview. Oldest & youngest took this same trip when they were senior/freshman. The youngest has also had two Spring Break Band Trips during the past two years, which did not coincide with the oldest's Spring Break. But since this is the last band trip, and since we actually had stuff planned, instead of just working, this was a particularly nice weekend.
Friday afternoon was lovely weather to help with bus loading. The smell of diesel buses always takes me back to my church choir tour days in high school. Perhaps I will write about that formative experience sometime as they were the number one motivation for me to push my kids hard into music. That evening the husband & I, along with my mom, went to a very nice restaurant with gift cards that had been sitting in a drawer for over a year. Foodies and vegetarians may shudder, but to me, nothing says fancy dinner better than prime rib, a potato, and onion bread! Paired with a Blood Orange Cosmo beforehand and Coconut Banana Cream Pie! Yum.
Saturday morning I skipped yoga class and we took a long walk at a large nature preserve. This was how we spent many weekends pre- and early marriage, before kids. Later we went to a beer tasting event in our town, within walking distance of our house. Ever had a Saison? Or a smoked porter with vanilla bean? Yes, please. And finally relaxing in front of the fire pit. Early to bed, because like I said, up at 4 to go pick up the retuning musician.
Nice as it was, the weekend also provided some of the anxiety from a distance that one experiences when the (grown) children are away. I was not worried about the one on the band trip; we are old hands at that. However, I heard from one of the kids going on the trip that my oldest, who goes to college about an hour and a half from the Very Large Amusement Park, was planning on taking a road trip, as he still has close ties to certain kids in the band. He doesn't have a car at college, so we weren't sure if or how he would get there. I decided that he is 20 years old, and it would be best to just let it happen if it was going to happen (just hoping he wouldn't make any of the kids miss call time or something). It turns out that he took Amtrak to the town the park is near, then WALKED to the park. Then back. Now it was only a five mile walk, but after the fact I Google mapped it. I'm glad I didn't know. I am very sensitive to location privacy and my kids' privacy with this blog, so I won't say where this park is, but lets just say, very hazardous roadways! Far worse than I would have imagined, and I am thankful no one ran him over or tried to pick him up. Or that the cops didn't haul him in. I have gently explained to him that it is possible to call a cab!
I find with the college student that anxiety is out of sight, out of mind. I don't worry about him when he is away, unless I know (and I usually don't) that something is happening. I guess I have to brace myself for two next year!
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